Saturday, June 28, 2008

The calm after the storm
Good Morning! A very calm morning here, after the weeks of busy preparations and celebrations of Aubrey's birth, Molly's birth, the last week of summer school, and the last week of WORK! Shauna is safely back in the country, and Aubrey is safe at home and growing! I am on vacation!! Originally planned to go and help Gabe and Ally prepare for the birth, but little Aubrey messed up all that careful planning with her early arrival! You can follow her progress at her new blogspot!

http://breybrowning.blogspot.com/

It thunderstormed all night, and there are branches all over the yard, but this morning it is cool and quiet with a light rain washing my world. The windows are open and the house is cooled by nature and smells fabulous.

I have a few days to myself as 'the sarge' is off to Field Day. This is a weekend set aside nationally for all ham operators, law enforcement, homeland security etc....to go to a remote location, set up antennas and generators, and practice their emergency communication skills. They do this to keep those skills honed in case there are natural disasters, which this year has been frequent. These guys are the first on the scene, and head communications when power is out...like immediately after a tornado. They start the rescue coordination and all emergency communications until power is restored to 911. All of the guys doing this, do it of their own time and at their own expense. Many are career Public Servants...like Larry. He may have hung up the badge, but he never will hang up his sense of duty to his fellow man. Very Honorable. They all get set up across the nation and start communicating with each other....look for them in your area, and make sure they know you appreciate those that work for your safety and protection....even in thunderstorms, with no sleep.

I'm taking these days to clean and prepare my home for family arriving. Everyone had set up to come in mid-July, to celebrate the new addition to the family. My parents are driving down from Nebraska, and Shauna will be flying in from DC....yea she seems to be logging a few air-miles this summer! She's bringing Hattin the Cat, originally from my garage, and letting "gramma" take him for a bit. He's been too lonely with her increase of hours at work. My Lucifer is going to LOVE a playmate!! (eventually)

Molly slept in and is now up, but quiet, under a blankee on the couch watching spongebob. I don't like to "use" the television, but do allow her some wake-up time with that little disgusting yellow character. She is mesmerized by him and thinks he's hilarious.

One of our routines... and the stronghold of life with Molly.

She runs for snacks during commercials...always the same snacks...pretzels and sugar free popsicles. Funny, we may be out of toilet paper, yet mommy never runs out to THOSE two staples!!

Routine. It makes our world go round. She gathers her security from it.

She's already been to the window, and saw that Larry's vehicle is gone. (Like her father, she knows every make of car made, and who drives it.) That's ok, for awhile....tonight, when he doesn't come home and tuck her in, there will be a price to pay. Tomorrow morning? when he isn't here to wake her again? We'll be taking a little drive to the area to visit. I can't explain to her verbally where he is, but she will understand when she's sees he's working. She won't like it, but will understand.

We will be busy the next few weeks, with all the company and travel to Springfield and then we'll rest up. I do notice that she can handle only 'so much' stimulation, then we have to schedule a 'down' day. This works out fine with all of us, as I have found after raising all the others, that there is something to relish and appreciate in taking some 'quiet' time. I complain about all that we are foregoing due to the high cost of fuel, but in reality....Home is always where i want to be.

The last two days of school, were just too much! I'm forever grateful to her teacher-mom, Stephanie, that also recognizes this in her. If she overloads at school, she has a little place (supervisor Janice's office) where she can go and work in quiet or take a little rest or rock in an office chair with another mommy, who confesses to me that she enjoys a minute to love and relax also. They know that if they want her cooperation, she has to be allowed this space. We have the most wonderful support system at school imaginable. They know her need for routine, but are using pec boards (pictures) to teach her that sometimes life throws a few curveballs. She seems to be more apt to handle changes, if she has an idea of what's coming up. Like her mom, she is not fond of surprises! We ended up forgoing the last two field trips of the year. Although we made arrangements to be there, we opted to stay home based on Molly's threshold, and she had reached her limit. A necessary decision, not made lightly but made none-the-less "for the best".

She did however, allow us to celebrate her birthday!! Molly Kate is EIGHT!


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We went back up to Springfield, and took her to Incredible Pizza, which seems to be becoming an annual event! Little Bill was on board to come with, but got a cold at the last minute, and opted not to expose all of us and the new baby to his virus. Him and Angela took some time the week before to come up for HIS birthday, and him and molly had some quality time then:

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Molly loved the spaghetti, and of course, the timed basketball shoot, her all time fav, and something she is REALLY good at!



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(warning, never move from the 'overhand' throw motion of a timed bball shoot, to skeeball...i now know why the upper section of those little alleys are covered in steel cages!)

Gabe and Ally even got to play a little, while 'big momma' manned the stroller. They even had a little train!! You cannot believe how much Molly loves Trains!!

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And after spending ten dollars trying to 'crank out' a spongebob for her, mom gave up....only to have Gabe come right behind, and pull it on the first try!! Molly actually jumped up and down, cheering and pumping arms at this feat!! It was a good time! (for her, anyway....more on my lamentings at her growing up so fast at another time) and as always, her brothers remain the ultimate heroes in her world.

We have another guest staying with us right now...a Killdeer


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A little bird has set her nest up in our side yard, caught under the keen eye of Larry the Lawnmower Man. We thought she was hurt, but as it turns out, she fakes an injury to lead predators away from her nest which she sets up in the open ground! She's got a piercing cry, and fires it up if we get too close...so we've been keeping track of her with the zoom lens. I ran out this morning to make sure her and her nest of 4 survived the storm.

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They are all safe and sound, (and i took a 'chewing out' for interrupting her) and larry is off lawnmowing duties on that side of the house, for 24 days. We understand she will move her new family closer to the lake after they hatch. Unfortunately, 24 days with this kind of rain will mean bringing out the bushhog...but it's ok. It's not nice to fool with mother nature!


http://www.nhptv.org/natureworks/killdeer.htm


I hope this week finds you all able to take a little quiet time with those little ones you love so much, and send good thoughts that me...the original ADHD girl, can complete the tasks at hand, freeing me up to go spoil little Aubrey ROTTEN!!

And as always, my prayers are with my prayer angels, especially little ben
http://www.carepages.com/

cp name "BenTheBrave"

and his mom, amy. He copped an infection, so instead of going home to prepare for a particularly hard course of chemo, they both ended up staying in the hospital. It's sad to know as he gains strength and recovers from a life-threatening infection, that he has also gained enough strength to start this round. They give them the chemicals until they are almost killed by them, and then let them rest up, regain the white counts and start to feel better...and then start the whole process over again. This will go on for 2-3 years primarily, and then continue on in smaller doses as maintenance. Such a horrible disease, with such a horrible way to a cure. There has GOT to be a better way. Pray hard and give generously!

We honor our Cancer Heroes....and their moms, and hold them up in prayer constantly.

Friday, June 20, 2008

She just keeps on growing!!

Our cop-bud Jeff, works in Iowa...so this week, amidst all the joy I am celebrating in my life, we stop to remember the devastation that has hit the Midwest this past week or so.


The tornado that hit the boyscout camp....

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Our prayers are will all of you reading this, that live in these areas. More Pictures available from Cedar Rapids at
http://www.andrealynnphoto.com/CRflood2008/


In contrast, our week has been a quiet one...back to work, and back to summer school, our hearts are in Spg with baby bree. She's topped out at 7 lbs, and although small on the growth chart (to be expected with the early entrance) she is extremely hale and healthy!

My nephew Justin, in Nebraska and his wife had a new baby boy, April 25th WELCOME WYATT!!


My Nephew Eric, and his wife Sara (she's in my top ten) ALSO had a new baby boy yesterday! WELCOME GAGE!! I'm looking forward to a Colorado family reunion time, when we can get all these new cousins together!!


We are one work week (3 work-days to be accurate) until vacation time!! My mom and dad will be traveling down from Nebraska to visit and see the new baby bree, and we're hoping shauna, who gets back from Europe tomorrow, gets to arrange her schedule to be here also! I would love to get pics of all my kids together, as well as 3 generations of Miller's in one shot! Keep your fingers crossed that the coordinating of schedules happens!


Molly has again just blown me away with her growing! I bought little 4th of July tee shirts for her this week, that were TOO SMALL!! She was a 7-8 last week, and this week? She's an 8-10! It really sux that Dora is hard to find at that size....but not spongebob clothes! She has a few Hannah things, but is not really impressed with that current craze, thank Heavens.


She takes her lunch to school, 2 of 4 days...and wednesday morning when i told her we needed to fix her lunch, she grabbed her thermos bag, went to the fridge and started unloading everything out of it......methodically and precisely, everything from the front of the fridge was removed and placed on the cabinet under the "peeking around the corner" eyes of me and the sarge.


Finally, she pulled a small jar of pickles from wayyyyyyy outta the back, and promptly put the whole jar in her lunchbox, and zipped it up!! What a kid! Yea, there was a mess to clean up, as usual, after one of her bright ideas...but we just pick up with a smile. She's too cute and we are pleased that even though she still doesn't speak many words...her comprehension of what goes on daily, and what has to happen next chronologically always leaves us smiling.



She has let the dogs out for a run in the woods twice, this week and you can be sure that after the short-lived panic of not seeing your baby, and losing about $1500.00 worth of puppies...the front door is latched, and the back gate has been secured with those big, plastic ties, usually saved back as an extra set of handcuffs! She must have a little Hoodini in her!


Bill was home for the week, last week...and I'm sure the current interest in her leaving for long walks in the woods stems from the utter BOREDOM of being home without him or angela! Poor Angela who got beat up all week...right after molly went to see Kung Fu Panda!! It was really bad when they all got strapped into the back of the Tahoe, on one of our many commutes to Springfield!


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Check out what the boy's call her "snaggle tooth" She has one of the secondary's growing in behind her primary...making for one big front tooth! EEK!! DDS says hold on...it will work itself out eventually!


I'm home for a long weekend...ally has 'other' family coming to visit (as IF!) and i don't want to be too much of a pain, plus am battling some of those wonderful "joys of womanhood" that come with a bright full moon....UGH!! This is something i really need to stop procrastinating about. I'll let you know how that goes.....as you know I am the Queen of Procrastination! I'm so glad that gene has seemed to skip a generation. So today i get to catch up on the email (still on dial-up time out because of the broadband quota being blown by my miss kelsi visit) so if you don't see alot of graphics or downloads...you know why.

Probably a good thing, as it's so frustrating to be on the computer...i HAVE to turn my attention to my suzi homemaker duties!


ok, maybe just a short trip to see baby bree on sunday...I CAN'T STAND ITTTTTT!!! :-)

Enjoy your SUMMERTIME WEEK!! I LOVE LOVE LOVE IT!!

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Keep my little prayer-buds in your prayers...PLEASE! 2 more angels have earned their wings in the carepages...and Little Bennie who SHOULD be home, has made an unscheduled trip back to Childrens in LA...with some sort of virus, which can be devistating when a child is undergoing chemo.


I bulletn'd some interesting facts about pediatric cancer this week. If it hasn't touched you, yet...it will. ..and of all the major childhood killers, it receives the LEAST amount of research money even though it kills the MOST children! (more than asthma-cystic fibrosis and AIDS combined!)

carepages.com
look up name:
BenTheBrave

We need to think carefully about that when voting in the next Administration.
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Meet my june babies!

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Aubrey Jo June 7
Little Bill June 11
Molly Kate June 22

Molly Kate is EIGHT ON SUNDAY!!

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

OMG!! Life is SO UNEXPECTED!!

OMG OMG OMG!!

Where do i start??

Little Bill and Ang are home for his bday...TODAY!! he's 21. He planned in advance this little vacation, but didn't tell me...so i should be at work! As fate would have it, things changed quick and almost ALL my family got to meet unexpectedly! AND i got to take some time to spend with them!

Saturday morning, Gabe calls and describes the confusing body leakage going on at his house, and although i'm trying to remain calm and tell him to take Ally to the hospital, catch the doc making rounds, and get her checked out...im KICKING KELSI'S BED!! (wake up!! we got to go NOW!!)

i KNOW her water has broken! I've been tired and stumbling around..and REALLY didn't want to make another trip to Spg...but we're suppose to be at pop's house, doing the monthly today...Larry is already there with the pickup, as he wants to bring home some bookshelves, etc.

OK, IM AWAKE NOW!! Still have to top off the tank ($$$80.00 friggin$$$$) and head down the road...bluetooth headset burning up, as i stove off frantic family members. Shauna has just landed in Germany (she's bagging around for a week, and then meeting fritz's family in Croatia for a brother wedding) and the last word from her was "Do NOT have a baby while I'm out of country!" (ally is due the end of the month...shauna will be back by the 22nd)

Did i mention that Springfield is 120 miles from my home town?? I would like to thank the State Patrol for being somewhere else while we flew up there!! We made it in about an hour! HAHAHAH!!

Gabe calls back via cell, they've finally been seen, and sure enough Ally's water has broken, baby is 100% effaced, and she's 3cm dialated!!

THREE WEEKS EARLY!! no preggo pics, no pre-natal spa day...no camera in the bag...HERE SHE COMES!! (oh yes, i had forgotten MY camera TWICE!! so we had to stop in at Walmart, and buy a new one!! eek!!)

we recall everyone and tell them...IT'S A GO!! and 4 different sets of parents start a high speed chase to Cox South, Springfield Mo! This is going to be interesting!!

and it was...but i have to tell you, it was made so fabulous by the boys. By Ally and Gabes friends, co-college students, co-workers...THEY WERE SO CUTE!! and supportive! They made
numerous trips back and forth to the apartment, walk the dog...clean up the bed...pick up the leftovers of a hurried exit, recover THEIR camera...and then??

STARTED TAILGATING IN THE PARKING LOT! yep, we had all the men outside, enjoying cool refreshements, and chinese food/sandwiches ordered in!! They had everything going but a tv/stereo!!



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The labor took from 6am...until almost 7pm, when Aubrey Jo made her big entrance!


At that time, everyone was smashed into a small hallway, and chuckling at the antics of the 'college boys' who were "calling the
labor and delivery" be pressing ears on the door separating us from the happy couple!


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AT THE MOMENT she let out her first cry, there was an uproar of cheers in the hallway that would have made Albert Pujols proud. The doc reciprocated by slipping a brand new pair of footprints
under said door...giving the crowd something to ohh and ahhh over!


Many tears and kisses...it happened so quickly and easily! AND a saturday??? HOW CONVENIENT!


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Aubrey weighed in at 6#14 oz and was 19 3/4" long! She did have some scary moments with glucose and body temp...as well as some jaundice, but has stabled out and was released to come home YESTERDAY!!




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so HAPPY BIRTHDAY AUBREY on 6/7...and HAPPY BIRTHDAY BILL, today, 6-11...molly will
follow the pack on 6/22 with her big NUMBER 8!!

(my june babies)


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We are celebrating here with the pure joy of new life.....and the remembrance of the births of my big kids. LIFE IS GOOD!!

A new family is born:

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